Who I am
My Background
I've been a resident of the Stillwater Area School District since 2012 when my husband and I moved with our newborn twins to Woodbury. My husband grew up here and knew it was a great community to raise a family. It's hard to believe we've been in the same place for 12 years now and we never want to leave.
Our previous home was in Madison, Wisconsin where we met in college and where I began my teaching career in the Madison Metro School District. I taught high school history first at East High School then La Follette High School for a total of seven years. Teaching in public education shaped many of my values today.
Although I left teaching, for years I continued to find my way back to working with kids. I tutored in St. Paul Public Schools with National History Day, in South Washington County Schools through AVID, and at Sylvan in Woodbury over the years. Then in 2020, I found a new way to share my passion for education by serving on the Stillwater Area School Board.
Today I'm finishing my first four year term. My elementary kids are now middle schoolers and a lot more has changed. Our amazing community stepped up to support BOTH the renewal of an operating levy along with our first ever tech levy AND a much needed bond to replace two 100-year old buildings, expand a middle school, and invest in security throughout the district. Sustainable funding and continued investment in our future generations are important values of mine and I am proud and grateful to live in a community that feels the same.
Another key change was conducting an inclusive process to select our next superintendent who works in partnership with our educators, the community, and the board to move our district forward. While we have accomplished a lot in four short years, there is still so much to be done. In order to continue our momentum, we need stable leadership. I am excited to see where this goes and am asking our community for the opportunity to continue this work for four more years.
The Board Member I am Today
One of the first things I learned as a board member is that my experience as a parent and community member is a tiny drop in the bucket of experiences in this district and community.
Serving on a governance board means looking at problems beyond my experience and supporting solutions reached through the collaborative efforts of those impacted.
Throughout the process, I have worked hard to stay well informed and ask clarifying or probing questions before arriving at my final decision. In this spirit, I would like to lay out the values that guide my decision making.
My platform is not a list of tangible campaign promises to support specific initiatives or issues, but rather a complex network of priorities that I balance and use to guide my work as a board member.
This role is so much greater than me and I want to continue to devote the energy and effort it takes to represent our community with values that align.
My Platform Values
- I value financial stability and prudent investment of our community resources to advance the learning of everyone in our community.
- I value education as a discipline and profession. I want to see curiosity thrive in a system that embraces learning academically, socially, emotionally and culturally for both our students and educators.
- I value policy governance where the board focuses on approving and updating our policies in alignment with statutes and our strategic plan so that our educational professionals have clear guidelines for practice.
- I value continuously evolving practices that best meet, and when necessary adapt, to the ever changing needs of our students.
- I value belonging and student voice. Pony Pride is alive and strong, but I want to ensure that each and every one of our students feels that they are seen and valued for who they are and what they bring to the world. This means asking for and integrating feedback from our students in addition to their parents, educators, and community members.
Students are always at the center of my decision making, but there are a variety of ways to best serve them. In reality, there are times when values compete. When that happens, I will articulate which values I am prioritizing to be as transparent as possible.